Unit 5,6 & 7: The Container
Unit 5, 6 & 7:
Immigration and The Container Performance
Unit 5:
Immigration
Introduction to This Unit
In this unit will be focused on immigration and the reason behind it. We will also be looking into different cultures.
Context&Planning
For our warm up game we played a quick game of Splat!
We then focused on immigration and the reasons as to why it occurs, for example, it could be because of better jobs, war, better education etc.
We then got into groups of 4 and had to create a short scene based on what immigration meant. My group decided to create a short scene were there were 2 discriminating officers and 2 immigrants who were coming over to our country and we were continuously questioning them on why they wanted to live in our country. Once we finished, each group performed their piece in front of the class and got feedback.
We were split into three groups of four people and in our groups we were each given an A3 sheet of paper to write down what we think immigration is, why is happens, what are the pros and cons to people who chose to immigrate etc.
After each group finished we then sat in one big circle and went around to each of the groups and shared our ideas on what we done.
(class discussions)
In our second half of the acting class we focused on eye contact and communication by doing a clicking activity. For this activity the class was standing in a circle and the person who had the 'click' and had to pass it to someone else in the circle whilst making eye contact. We also done this activity whilst walking around the room in different paces, one being the slowest and ten being the fastest. We would either walk in a straight line, curved line or all over the place.
The second activity we done the class stood in another circle whilst one person was in the middle of the circle and had to come up with an action for example, brushing their hair and a person outside the circle would step in and ask "what are you doing?" then the person performing the action would have to come up with a different but similar action for that person and could reply with "putting on make-up". These activities tested our listening skills, communication skills, spacial awareness, eye contact, control and memory.
The final activity we did was focused on immigration. We got into the groups that we were in for the first lesson and had to create a short piece of what immigration is.
In acting we focused on articulation by doing different the tongue twister. We also focused on our breathing by taking deep breaths while counting up to the number 4 and then breathing out by counting up to the numbers 4, 8 and 12.
We played a quick game called don't overlap. This is where a group of people would stand in a circle and try to count from 1-10 but the rule is you can't overlap on each other otherwise you would have to start again. We also played this game with our eyes closed since there couldn't be any communication between us. I found this game fun since it look us a while to get to ten which turned really funny since people kept on overlapping and we all ended up laughing at each other.
We also played the 'clicking' game as well as some other warm ups such as rolling our shoulder and chewing on gum while humming.
We then focused back on immigration and we were given time to rehearse over our small scenes that we had created the day before and once the time was up each group had the chance to perform.
Lastly, we done an activity where a person would have to either sit or stand on a chair and another person would have to try and persuade that person to get up or down from the chair.
Unit 6&7:
The Container Performance
Introduction To Production
During this unit our class will be looking over a play called 'The Container' and will later on be doing a performance based on immigration, The Container.
Context&Planning
In Rebecca's lesson we sat in our groups for the container performance and on paper wrote down the different props, lighting arrangements and clothing that each of us are wearing on the day of the performance according to our characters. We also had to keep into consideration that we are immigrants and are most likely either dirty or wearing elegant clothes to be in disguise so, we had to make sure that we needed to look and act the part while also being realisation enough. We researched traditional clothes to get ideas of what our characters would be dressed like while sitting in that container.
In this lesson we started off by each finding a space in the dance studio to lay down. We had to lay flat on the floor with our feet facing outwards to the side, our arms flat against the floor with our palms facing the ceiling and our eyes closed. We starting doing different breathing exercises by breathing in whilst counting up to 4 and then breathing out whilst counting up the the numbers 4, 8 and then 12. We then moved onto breathing out whilst making the sound 'MMMAAAAA'.
Our next activity was focused on 'wants'. The class had a small discussing on acting verbs, what they are and the different techniques on how to use them. For example, you could use threats, seduction, charm, black mail etc. We then moved onto doing the same activity that we done on Tuesday but using different scenarios such as being interviewed for a job at sports direct or the hairdressers whilst using the different persuasion techniques to get what you want.
Firstly, we started of the lesson in a circle then doing some exercises to warm up our bodies and to get us ready for our lesson. Our teacher played different types of music on her phone for us to dance to. We began by marching, marching to the left then right, marching side to side whilst reaching our arms out to our side and then reaching our arms up to the ceiling. We then began marching in a circle whilst stretching our arms out.
Once that was finished we then formed another circle and had our legs shoulder width apart and began stretching all the way down to the floor and then slowly reaching back up to the ceiling.
We moved onto rolling our shoulders forwards and backwards and then opposite ways. Lastly, we moved onto rolling our heads side to side counting up to the number eight.
For our last activity we sat in circle and talked about a man called Konstantin stanislavski who was born in 1863 and was a Russian Actor and theatre director. In the 1900s he developed a skill for acting.
WHO AM I?
The kind of person you are. It is yourself, then then you know the answer in the fullest possible way. If it is a character then you must decide on your background, influences, education, likes and dislikes. These decisions must be "PERSONALISED" and "PARTICULARISED". You must know and understand and IDENTIFY yourself with your character until you can fully believe yourself to exist in his or hers "shoes".
WHERE AM I?
What kind of a place is it? What are the colours and textures? What kind of furniture? What does it mean to me? What are the objects in this place? How do I feel about this?
WHEN IS IT?
Time if day? What year? What season? Why now? What has just happened previously? Where am I going after this?
WHAT DO I WANT?
This is your ACTION. WHAT I WANT, NEED, DESIRE, INTENDED, WISH.
WHY DO I WANT IT?
This is JUSTIFICATION for action. I must have a good reason for wanting my action.
HOW WILL I GET IT?
By DOING WHAT to get my action accomplished. This is a smaller action that I call an ACTIVITY. I beg, I plead, I get sympathy, I tease, I threaten, etc. in order to further my action. These activities are both VERBAL and PHYSICAL.
Lastly, we were given four scenarios that we had to create and mime to then later perform in front of the class. The scenarios were to either cook you favorite meal for yourself, cook for annoying children (babysitting), cook a meal for your partner who has cheated on you and you've poisoned it or cook a meal for Gordon Ramsey. We were given the last 15 minutes of the lesson to try and create a short miming scene and then later on perform it in the second half of the lesson.
In the first half of acting class we sat in a circle in the middle of the room and talked about different cultures.
In the second half of the lesson as warm ups we done some speech articulation (she sells sea shells on the sea shore, GGG, DDD, BBB) and stretches.
We done hot seating which is an activity where a person would sit in a chair in the middle of the room whilst the other people around them would ask questions.
Each of us we handed 6 different sheets with questions that we had to fill in which were based on our characters from our immigration play 'The container'. The questions asked consisted of our name, age, where our characters are from, relationships etc.
Since we didn't know everything about our own characters we were allowed to make up information about them e.g. what they sounded like, how they acted towards other people, different facial expressions they use etc.
We started the class off with a relaxing exercise. We had our bodies lying straight on the floor with our palms facing up towards the ceiling and our shoulders relaxed.
The second activity was completely individual. We had to think of an old memory that our characters experienced (made up) and thought about how it affected them deeply. Once that was done we created it into hot seating and a few people answered some questions based on their life experience.
We got into our groups and rehearsed over our container scripts. Near the end of the lesson we layered it out as if we were performing on stage infant of an audience.
In the first half of the lesson we straight away we went into our performance groups and rehearsed over the whole of our 10 pages from scene 2.
Movement class (with Shenagh)
In movement class with Shenagh we started off by finding a space in the dance studio and walked around the room at a very slow pace with 1 being the slowest and 10 being the fastest. Which ever number Shenagh called out, is the pace that we walk in according to where it ranked from 1-10. We would also have to walk in different directions either it being straight lines, vertical (as if we were walking on a grid) and in circles (big or small).
Secondly, in pairs we danced to Crazy In Love by Beyonce and Jay Z.
After that we sat down and watched a YouTube video called Pool (no water) which is based on a guy who jumped into a swimming pool without water and committed suicide. This YouTube showed a lot of passion and motivation during its performance. The last video we watched was based on a chair duet between 2 people. The video consisted of the 2 people sitting on chairs whilst creating different movements using their arms and bodies.
In acting class Shenagh went through the whole script with my group and helped us section each of the pages in order for us to understand and rehearse easier. The reason for this activity is that every time a new character would enter the scene the mood, topic or emotions would change, so instead of us talking our lines the exact same over and over again, if we break down each section of our script then we would understand where we would need to change our facial expression etc.
Once our group finished that activity Shenagh and I focused more on my character, Mariam. I highlighted over my lines and wrote down different emotive actions next to them. We done this for the whole 15 pages and annotated them as well. I found these activities extremely helpful because now when i'm rehearsing over my lines I can actually express the emotions that I am feeling instead of just talking like a robot.
As soon as the lesson started we created a sort of stage by us all sitting down at the back of the dance studio as if we were an audience whilst each of the groups went up on stage one by one and rehearsed over their scripts. When up on stage and it would be time for our characters to read Shenagh made us all read out our individual actions before we would read out our actual lines. This was done so that we could be tested by our classmates and Shenagh herself to see if we were actually portraying the emotions that our characters were feeling at that time and if not we would receive feedback to help us improve.
We rehearsed over our scripts on and off book for the whole lesson and we tested each other to see how well we know our lines.
We rehearsed the script in our own groups and then individually. Towards the end of the lesson Shenagh brought group 1 and 2 together and we rehearsed in the script order.
We rehearsed over our scripts for the first half of the lesson. In the second half of the lesson my group performed our scene in front of the class and after received feedback from Shenagh and our classmates.
Research and References
At home I did some research on the types of clothing that Immigrants would wear so that they aren't recognised. Immigrants could wear regular clothing such as Adidas tracksuits, jeans etc.
(List of our characters clothing for my performance group)
Problem Solving
In the beginning of The Container performance my character begins is having a conversation with another character played my classmate. The problem was that I could hardly hear her sometimes when it was her turn to speak. This was a big problem for me since I wouldn't know when to say my own lines and I would just be sitting their waiting and constantly asking her to repeat herself over and over again. During rehearsals I had a small conversation about projecting her voice more so she can be heard.
(Technical run through)
We ran through the whole script top to bottom with our cover teacher Monique. This lesson was extremely helpful as we done stage directions and layered out the performance as if we were on stage performing in front of an audience. We got great individual feedback from Monique which helped a lot.In the morning lesson group 1 and 2 went through the script together with Rebecca as our cover teacher. Each group rehearsed over their scripts. My group performed our scene to Monique and received good feedback. The Thing that I didn't like about this was that it was 2 days before our performance which really worried me and stressed me out. Secondly, in the technical run things didn't go to plan such as we didn't get the right music to be played for certain groups, some lights broke down so we ended up only having one light from one side of the stage for the whole performance and the production crew were also slow with the blackout scenes which made us lose time. This made me worry and wonder whether these things would happen on the day of our performance which it thankfully didn't.
Evaluation
DAY OF THE CONTAINER PERFORMANCE
I found these units interesting as we were learning about cultures and hearing classmates past stories. I found these units the most intense out of all of them. The reason for this is because during lessons we would do hot seating based on other classmates past stories which I found interesting to hear about.
For this unit I wasn't feeling as nervous to perform my container seen as I was in the Dumb Waiter performance. I had much more confidence in myself and was feeling even better once my scene was over. Even though I was nervous, I still managed to overcome my fears and doubts.
Immigration and The Container Performance
Unit 5:
Immigration
Introduction to This Unit
In this unit will be focused on immigration and the reason behind it. We will also be looking into different cultures.
Context&Planning
For our warm up game we played a quick game of Splat!
We then focused on immigration and the reasons as to why it occurs, for example, it could be because of better jobs, war, better education etc.
We then got into groups of 4 and had to create a short scene based on what immigration meant. My group decided to create a short scene were there were 2 discriminating officers and 2 immigrants who were coming over to our country and we were continuously questioning them on why they wanted to live in our country. Once we finished, each group performed their piece in front of the class and got feedback.
We were split into three groups of four people and in our groups we were each given an A3 sheet of paper to write down what we think immigration is, why is happens, what are the pros and cons to people who chose to immigrate etc.
After each group finished we then sat in one big circle and went around to each of the groups and shared our ideas on what we done.
(class discussions)
In our second half of the acting class we focused on eye contact and communication by doing a clicking activity. For this activity the class was standing in a circle and the person who had the 'click' and had to pass it to someone else in the circle whilst making eye contact. We also done this activity whilst walking around the room in different paces, one being the slowest and ten being the fastest. We would either walk in a straight line, curved line or all over the place.
The second activity we done the class stood in another circle whilst one person was in the middle of the circle and had to come up with an action for example, brushing their hair and a person outside the circle would step in and ask "what are you doing?" then the person performing the action would have to come up with a different but similar action for that person and could reply with "putting on make-up". These activities tested our listening skills, communication skills, spacial awareness, eye contact, control and memory.
The final activity we did was focused on immigration. We got into the groups that we were in for the first lesson and had to create a short piece of what immigration is.
In acting we focused on articulation by doing different the tongue twister. We also focused on our breathing by taking deep breaths while counting up to the number 4 and then breathing out by counting up to the numbers 4, 8 and 12.
We played a quick game called don't overlap. This is where a group of people would stand in a circle and try to count from 1-10 but the rule is you can't overlap on each other otherwise you would have to start again. We also played this game with our eyes closed since there couldn't be any communication between us. I found this game fun since it look us a while to get to ten which turned really funny since people kept on overlapping and we all ended up laughing at each other.
We also played the 'clicking' game as well as some other warm ups such as rolling our shoulder and chewing on gum while humming.
We then focused back on immigration and we were given time to rehearse over our small scenes that we had created the day before and once the time was up each group had the chance to perform.
Lastly, we done an activity where a person would have to either sit or stand on a chair and another person would have to try and persuade that person to get up or down from the chair.
(Class discussion on Immigration)
Unit 6&7:
The Container Performance
Introduction To Production
During this unit our class will be looking over a play called 'The Container' and will later on be doing a performance based on immigration, The Container.
Context&Planning
In Rebecca's lesson we sat in our groups for the container performance and on paper wrote down the different props, lighting arrangements and clothing that each of us are wearing on the day of the performance according to our characters. We also had to keep into consideration that we are immigrants and are most likely either dirty or wearing elegant clothes to be in disguise so, we had to make sure that we needed to look and act the part while also being realisation enough. We researched traditional clothes to get ideas of what our characters would be dressed like while sitting in that container.
In this lesson we started off by each finding a space in the dance studio to lay down. We had to lay flat on the floor with our feet facing outwards to the side, our arms flat against the floor with our palms facing the ceiling and our eyes closed. We starting doing different breathing exercises by breathing in whilst counting up to 4 and then breathing out whilst counting up the the numbers 4, 8 and then 12. We then moved onto breathing out whilst making the sound 'MMMAAAAA'.
Our next activity was focused on 'wants'. The class had a small discussing on acting verbs, what they are and the different techniques on how to use them. For example, you could use threats, seduction, charm, black mail etc. We then moved onto doing the same activity that we done on Tuesday but using different scenarios such as being interviewed for a job at sports direct or the hairdressers whilst using the different persuasion techniques to get what you want.
Firstly, we started of the lesson in a circle then doing some exercises to warm up our bodies and to get us ready for our lesson. Our teacher played different types of music on her phone for us to dance to. We began by marching, marching to the left then right, marching side to side whilst reaching our arms out to our side and then reaching our arms up to the ceiling. We then began marching in a circle whilst stretching our arms out.
Once that was finished we then formed another circle and had our legs shoulder width apart and began stretching all the way down to the floor and then slowly reaching back up to the ceiling.
We moved onto rolling our shoulders forwards and backwards and then opposite ways. Lastly, we moved onto rolling our heads side to side counting up to the number eight.
For our last activity we sat in circle and talked about a man called Konstantin stanislavski who was born in 1863 and was a Russian Actor and theatre director. In the 1900s he developed a skill for acting.
WHO AM I?
The kind of person you are. It is yourself, then then you know the answer in the fullest possible way. If it is a character then you must decide on your background, influences, education, likes and dislikes. These decisions must be "PERSONALISED" and "PARTICULARISED". You must know and understand and IDENTIFY yourself with your character until you can fully believe yourself to exist in his or hers "shoes".
WHERE AM I?
What kind of a place is it? What are the colours and textures? What kind of furniture? What does it mean to me? What are the objects in this place? How do I feel about this?
WHEN IS IT?
Time if day? What year? What season? Why now? What has just happened previously? Where am I going after this?
WHAT DO I WANT?
This is your ACTION. WHAT I WANT, NEED, DESIRE, INTENDED, WISH.
WHY DO I WANT IT?
This is JUSTIFICATION for action. I must have a good reason for wanting my action.
HOW WILL I GET IT?
By DOING WHAT to get my action accomplished. This is a smaller action that I call an ACTIVITY. I beg, I plead, I get sympathy, I tease, I threaten, etc. in order to further my action. These activities are both VERBAL and PHYSICAL.
In the first half of acting class we sat in a circle in the middle of the room and talked about different cultures.
In the second half of the lesson as warm ups we done some speech articulation (she sells sea shells on the sea shore, GGG, DDD, BBB) and stretches.
We done hot seating which is an activity where a person would sit in a chair in the middle of the room whilst the other people around them would ask questions.
Each of us we handed 6 different sheets with questions that we had to fill in which were based on our characters from our immigration play 'The container'. The questions asked consisted of our name, age, where our characters are from, relationships etc.
Since we didn't know everything about our own characters we were allowed to make up information about them e.g. what they sounded like, how they acted towards other people, different facial expressions they use etc.
We started the class off with a relaxing exercise. We had our bodies lying straight on the floor with our palms facing up towards the ceiling and our shoulders relaxed.
The second activity was completely individual. We had to think of an old memory that our characters experienced (made up) and thought about how it affected them deeply. Once that was done we created it into hot seating and a few people answered some questions based on their life experience.
We got into our groups and rehearsed over our container scripts. Near the end of the lesson we layered it out as if we were performing on stage infant of an audience.
In the first half of the lesson we straight away we went into our performance groups and rehearsed over the whole of our 10 pages from scene 2.
Movement class (with Shenagh)
In movement class with Shenagh we started off by finding a space in the dance studio and walked around the room at a very slow pace with 1 being the slowest and 10 being the fastest. Which ever number Shenagh called out, is the pace that we walk in according to where it ranked from 1-10. We would also have to walk in different directions either it being straight lines, vertical (as if we were walking on a grid) and in circles (big or small).
Secondly, in pairs we danced to Crazy In Love by Beyonce and Jay Z.
After that we sat down and watched a YouTube video called Pool (no water) which is based on a guy who jumped into a swimming pool without water and committed suicide. This YouTube showed a lot of passion and motivation during its performance. The last video we watched was based on a chair duet between 2 people. The video consisted of the 2 people sitting on chairs whilst creating different movements using their arms and bodies.
In acting class Shenagh went through the whole script with my group and helped us section each of the pages in order for us to understand and rehearse easier. The reason for this activity is that every time a new character would enter the scene the mood, topic or emotions would change, so instead of us talking our lines the exact same over and over again, if we break down each section of our script then we would understand where we would need to change our facial expression etc.
Once our group finished that activity Shenagh and I focused more on my character, Mariam. I highlighted over my lines and wrote down different emotive actions next to them. We done this for the whole 15 pages and annotated them as well. I found these activities extremely helpful because now when i'm rehearsing over my lines I can actually express the emotions that I am feeling instead of just talking like a robot.
As soon as the lesson started we created a sort of stage by us all sitting down at the back of the dance studio as if we were an audience whilst each of the groups went up on stage one by one and rehearsed over their scripts. When up on stage and it would be time for our characters to read Shenagh made us all read out our individual actions before we would read out our actual lines. This was done so that we could be tested by our classmates and Shenagh herself to see if we were actually portraying the emotions that our characters were feeling at that time and if not we would receive feedback to help us improve.
We rehearsed over our scripts on and off book for the whole lesson and we tested each other to see how well we know our lines.
We rehearsed the script in our own groups and then individually. Towards the end of the lesson Shenagh brought group 1 and 2 together and we rehearsed in the script order.
We rehearsed over our scripts for the first half of the lesson. In the second half of the lesson my group performed our scene in front of the class and after received feedback from Shenagh and our classmates.
Research and References
At home I did some research on the types of clothing that Immigrants would wear so that they aren't recognised. Immigrants could wear regular clothing such as Adidas tracksuits, jeans etc.
Problem Solving
In the beginning of The Container performance my character begins is having a conversation with another character played my classmate. The problem was that I could hardly hear her sometimes when it was her turn to speak. This was a big problem for me since I wouldn't know when to say my own lines and I would just be sitting their waiting and constantly asking her to repeat herself over and over again. During rehearsals I had a small conversation about projecting her voice more so she can be heard.
(Technical run through)
We ran through the whole script top to bottom with our cover teacher Monique. This lesson was extremely helpful as we done stage directions and layered out the performance as if we were on stage performing in front of an audience. We got great individual feedback from Monique which helped a lot.In the morning lesson group 1 and 2 went through the script together with Rebecca as our cover teacher. Each group rehearsed over their scripts. My group performed our scene to Monique and received good feedback. The Thing that I didn't like about this was that it was 2 days before our performance which really worried me and stressed me out. Secondly, in the technical run things didn't go to plan such as we didn't get the right music to be played for certain groups, some lights broke down so we ended up only having one light from one side of the stage for the whole performance and the production crew were also slow with the blackout scenes which made us lose time. This made me worry and wonder whether these things would happen on the day of our performance which it thankfully didn't.
Evaluation
DAY OF THE CONTAINER PERFORMANCE
- From 11-2:15 our class rehearsed the whole script of the container in both the dance studio and the theatre
- Our class performance started late so that made me a bit anxious for my performance.
- The longer our performance took, the more anxious I got. I even started forgetting some of my lines but, in the I became relaxed and just went for it.
- Once it was 2:30 other performance students started being seated into the theatre.
- Our level 2 class sat in the front row of the theatre so that we had easy access to the stage when it was our turn to perform our scenes.
- Confidence
- Voice Projection
- Face
- Memory
- Practice
- Team Work
- Body Language
- Communication
- Eye Contact
- Positivity
- Confidence
- Positivity
- Control
I found these units interesting as we were learning about cultures and hearing classmates past stories. I found these units the most intense out of all of them. The reason for this is because during lessons we would do hot seating based on other classmates past stories which I found interesting to hear about.
For this unit I wasn't feeling as nervous to perform my container seen as I was in the Dumb Waiter performance. I had much more confidence in myself and was feeling even better once my scene was over. Even though I was nervous, I still managed to overcome my fears and doubts.
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